Monday.

We have to talk about this. Over at Pretty Goes With Pretty they've mentioned this already. And I'm anal about my metadata. So, Dear Science comes through with the comma.

Bothersome. It's now on my iTunes with the comma:



It's not like that can't be fixed, though. I know it's wrong because of the album cover, and the website:



and the fact that it's just retarded to have a comma there. It's on Frazy with the comma:



and on Last FM, probably the most annoying of the lot (if only because I love it so much), it shows up like this:



It remains to be seen whether the iTunes store will get it right and list the album, plus metadata, sans comma.

. . .

Speaking of iTunes, I downloaded the latest version over the weekend (what are we on now? Version Eight Point Four Bajillion?) and have been playing with the new 'Genius' feature.
Whilst signing up for it, it tells me that it is 'sending information about [my] library to Apple', and I panic for a second. Well, it's done now. And I'm pretty sure if the legal stormtroopers try and find me here, they'll have a job, seeing as I don't even know whose wireless I'm connected to.

Genius then takes its sweet fucking time to load up. I almost cancel it and go do something else a couple of times.

Genius is meant to be a sort of Last FM-style database referral tool that, once activated and having scanned your entire library (at the cost of several precious minutes of your young life) can build genre-based playlists, based on the range of music in one's library. I'm looking forward to this because - and I don't know about everyone else here - making playlists is a chore. Having to go through the entire library for a few songs: chore. Not having playlists: even worse. I hate listening to entire albums while I'm out and about, and I have having it on 'Shuffle All Songs' because it doesn't come through with the ones I want. Solution?

Not quite.

Now, I had my reservation for a couple of reasons. I've read a few reviews of Genius already, one of them being on the PC World blog. PC World took great pleasure in messing around trying to get it to create Beatles-inspired playlists, only to be told over and over that it couldn't.

"What this suggests is that the iTunes Store listings largely determine what is showing up in your Genius list. If an artist isn't available in the iTunes Store, the Genius playlist creator may not work," the staff writer says. Hmmm. I know for a fact that about 40% of my library will not be available in the iTunes library, because

a) it's too obscure
b) it's a full album that I've recorded off vinyl
c) it's labelled wrongly
d) it's not out yet

Okay, well. Genius has now installed itself. Let's have a look-see.

"To make a playlist, select any song from your library and press the Genius button at the bottom of the window." I am informed in cheery, MS Word Paperclip-tones.

The 'Genius button' is a picture of an isotope . . . isotopes have something to do with science . . . only clever people know about science, geniuses, you might say. And Apple's new feature is pretty clever, hence . . . oh, do you see? Genius!

Genius marketing it ain't.

I go ahead and use the Genius button first on something from Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, one of the more obscure albums that first scrolls up. It's an experimental/no wave album. I would expect any of the artists from Paw Tracks to come out, but mostly, less imaginitively, some other electronica. Genius, to its credit, gives me a playlist, comprised of Animal Collective (that was a gimme though), Beirut (!?), a few tracks from the album itself, Blonde Redhead, The Blood Brothers (?), Camera Obscura (?), Cass McCombs, Cat Power, The Clash (!?!), Health, Joanna Newsom (!?!?!?) . . . the list goes on, and stays about as puzzling.

I try it a few more times with semi-obscure artists and get similar results (Genius even recommended Arctic Monkeys, when I fed it Kickball. Also, Bright Eyes/Minor Threat, really?). I try it for a track off Only By The Night and Genius tells me no no no. It also refuses:

The Beatles
Dear Science - TV On The Radio
101101 - Alto 45
Shut Up, I Never 7" - Black Eyes
The Boredoms
Twice Born - Fucked Up
In Rape Fantasy And Terror Sex We Trust - Joan of Arc
Ecstasy And Wine - My Bloody Valentine
Panda Bear Soccer Star - Panda Bear
News From Nowhere EP - Seachange
Self-Titled - Vanilla Swingers
Make It It - Wicked Farleys

And none of the old Northern Soul MP3s I've collected. So, all in all, Nice try Apple, but if Genius can't recognise half of my library - and a bloody good quality chunk it is too - I'm not going to use it. And while it is a good idea, and I was keen, it takes for-fucking-ever, and I am of the suspicion that one has to scan one's library every time one adds new tracks in order to have them included in the playlist search results. Chore. Plus, the sheer bizarreness of some recommendations has me scratching my head and retreating to the corner to make a mixtape instead.